Culture

Global Way to Coexist

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This May, I had the joy of taking part in the first International Conference on Faith and Reconciliation in Peja, Kosovo. Little did I realize that in this corner of the Balkans, social media would have such an impact. Posting on Facebook about an upcoming dinner at the conference, I quickly received a reply from a friend in Washington, D.C. telling me that her father would be present. About an hour after that, her father came and sat down with me at a table full of diplomats from around the globe. It was a wonderful evening of dialogue.

Inter-Culturalism

The Interfaith Triangle

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One of my greatest joys in working with Eboo Patel is watching him think. He is the sharpest wit in most of the rooms he enters, and if you manage to catch him with a surprising or unusual question after a public talk or small-group gathering, you can see his mind whirring as he finds not only a meaningful answer, but also a more compelling framework for your question. In Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America, Eboo gives us all the gift of seeing him think. It seems apparent that he is in the process of reframing not merely a question, but the premises of the entire interfaith movement, of which he has long been a key part. The core of his new thinking comes out in his chapter, “The Science of Interfaith Cooperation.”

Empathy

My Jewish Voice in the Spectrum of Interfaith Narrative

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The Jewish tradition has been rearticulated in response to many intellectual revolutions, from the rapid spread of Hellenistic thought by Alexander the Great 2,300 years ago to the invention of the movable-type printing press just half a millennium ago. Yet contemporary Jewish leaders are still working, and often struggling, to give voice to our belief system in the Information Age. Even as our Rabbinical Texts are filled with pithy phrases, we struggle to revive them in 140 characters. Even as sacred parables are relatable on blogs, we seem loath to post them or add hyperlinks to related stories. Even as our prayer books are available online, we seldom (with some notable exceptions) see iPads displaying them in our synagogues.

General News

Social Justice as a Unifying Issue for Dharmic Communities

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Religious communities are never the same once they reach America. In my view, they often become even more remarkable. As a third-generation American Jew, it is at times even challenging for me to think of Judaism apart from the American experience. In spite of hardships early on for our community, the search for common threads between the disparate Jewish groups that came in droves to America two (and more) generations ago forced us to reexamine and hone our religious beliefs. What actually bound us together?

Judaism

On Living Faith: Abraham and a Jewish Theology of Protest

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The Torah is filled with examples of prophets who protest in the name of justice. Moses protested the misdeeds of his fellow Israelites. Joshua protested falsified reports about the Holy Land. The very first proto-Jew, Abraham, even protested God when it came to a matter of justice. That God listened and acknowledged Abraham’s insights is a testament to the sacred nature of protest – and worthy of further inquiry.

Empathy

CEO of Home Depot: Purchase Advertising on All-American Muslim to replace Lowe’s

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Lowe’s recently pulled its advertising from the popular television show “All-American Muslim,” bowing to the pressure of Isalmophobes. It is unworthy of our business as Americans who care about the stories of all American religious communities. We now need a new place to shop, as we approach the new year. Help us draft Home Depot to be the tolerant alternative! We are asking Home Depot to buy the spots on “All-American Muslim” that Lowe’s used to purchase.

Christianity

Online tools enriching the study of sacred text

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This article was co-authored by Matthew L. Skinner. Picture this: an Iraqi reporter becomes interested in the work of a Jewish student in Israel after reading an article about Jewish-Muslim relations in medieval Spain that the student published online. The reporter contacts the student and interviews him about future prospects for Jewish-Muslim coexistence. As the student in this story and co-author of this article, Joshua Stanton knows first-hand how technology is reshaping the way people of different religions interact. To start with, he and the Iraqi reporter would never have connected without the Internet, which enabled them to bypass regional politics and borders.

Education

Yom Kippur Reflection: Facing Our Own Mortality — Without Regrets

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A derivative of this sermon was delivered at Temple Beth Israel in Steubenville, Ohio on Yom Kippur during Kol Nidre services, at the start of Yom Kippur. Many of the most dramatic moments in a hospital come when something goes unexpectedly wrong. A surgery gone array, a condition gone undiagnosed, or a patient who just doesn’t seem to be pulling through. The surgeons, doctors, nurses, technicians, and specialists do all that is within their power to help their patients — but sometimes there is nothing to be done. This was a reality I experienced firsthand last year, while serving as a chaplain intern.

Education

Torah Games? Bringing Torah to Life Through Game Design

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For many Jews, the Torah seems inaccessible. It is distant historically, culturally and linguistically. The Biblical figures seem far removed and unapproachable and the scenes and vignettes do not seem applicable to everyday life. Yet this sense of distance from the Torah may be as much a function of religious education as it is of the ancient nature of the text itself. Hebrew schools face structural problems in engaging students, since many classes are convened on evenings and weekends, when already over-programmed young people are either tired or less receptive to further learning opportunities.

Christianity

Bonhoeffer’s Theological Drive to Protect Jews from Nazis

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This article was written with John Shellito, who served as its primary author. Johnis a student at Union Theological Seminary, interested in how faith communities can resist oppression in economic, ecological, and social spheres. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2008 and is currently pursuing ordination in the Episcopal Church. “He was never what one might today term a culture warrior, nor could he easily be labeled conservative or liberal,” claims Eric Metaxas in one of many pungent lines from his groundbreaking new biography of Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet Bonhoeffer has often been pigeonholed as a courageous radical, working secretly for the assassination of Adolf Hitler during World War II.